The German economy relies on Open Source

• 7 out of 10 companies use open source software
• Cost and access to source code are considered the most important advantages
• Bitkom publishes "Open Source Monitor 2023”

Berlin, 27 September 2023 - Whether office software, video conferencing or graphics processing - there are also open-source solutions for most applications. They are now used across the board in the German economy: 7 out of 10 companies (69 percent) use open-source solutions. Only 18 percent are opposed to open source. These are the results of the "Open Source Monitor 2023", which was published by the digital business association Bitkom. For the Monitor, 1,155 companies with 20 or more employees in Germany and 102 people from public administration were surveyed. "Open source is not a nerdy niche in the digital world. Open source offers companies concrete advantages, such as customized solutions or even the possibility to comprehensively check a software for security vulnerabilities," says Bitkom President Dr Ralf Wintergerst. "But open source also offers opportunities for Germany as a business location and helps to get closer to the goal of digital sovereignty."

The biggest advantages of open source are cost savings, cited by 35 per cent, and access to the source code (16 per cent), followed by ease of customization (7 per cent) and ease of switching providers (6 per cent). The most important criterion in the selection of open-source solutions for companies that already use open source is functionality. This is mentioned by 95 percent of the companies. Security and available security certifications (93 per cent) as well as the declaration of authorship and rights ownership (85 per cent) are also very important. 

Every second company (51 per cent) contributes to the success of open source. Most often through paid support or licenses for paid enterprise variants of corresponding solutions (41 percent). In every fourth company (25 per cent), however, teams or individual employees also actively work on projects in the open-source community and 15 per cent make modified source code available again themselves. However, the use of open source is often not yet strategically addressed in the companies. Only one in three (32 per cent) has an open-source strategy.

All results, including on the topic of compliance, practical application examples and use in public administration, are contained in the "Open Source Monitor 2023", which was published today on the occasion of the „Open Source Forums 2023“ in Erfurt and is available in German language for free at:  www.bitkom.org/opensourcemonitor2023